Red-wattled Lapwing

[Ashok Sorout]

Shot at Ranthambore National Park Zone one on 1st Oct 2011 while hunting for tigers but could not find any,
Handheld, Canon 7D, 100-400, 1/125, f5.6. AV priority mode, ISO 200, Focal length 400.

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

Nice Image.Natural Colour, Good Eye Contact and Habitat.
This Bird is called 'Sentinel of the Forest'.It calls constantly "tit-ee-tit-ee-tit" (Audible like :'did you do it').Could you photograph, Ashok Bhai, our friend ' Rufous Tree Pie' on the roadside near the Entrance.Thanks for sharing.SaktiWild

[Ashok Sorout]

I think the composition is good but the white part is over exposed again. Another thing which I didn't like is thelegs are out of focus, I would have used wider apperture.

[Bhargava Srivari]

Ashok,

The composition is fine. It is good that you managed to focus near the head region. Since you were using a low ISO, the shutter speed is less, but in reality, I guess the lighting was good. One tends to keep the ISO as low as possible in order to make a habit of it which is good, but at the same time it is important to keep the shutter speed high enough to freeze action. While shooting not so agile beings, I prefer having shutter speeds of 1/200 or more if light is decent. With the 7D, you can comfortably keep the ISO at 400 at all times When the situation demands it, you may go all the way to 3200. I have seen few friends make 10 by 12 and larger prints at ISO 3200 with 7D!

In this image, the colors seem fine and the catchlight in the eye is nice. The pic looks sharp enough to me which shows that you have improved substantially. As you said (or meant), a higher ISO and narrower aperture like f7.1 would have been better. Wish you good luck for the remainder of safaris

[Mrudul Godbole]

The walking pose is nice. A higher DOF would have helped to get the legs covered. Agree you could have safely used a higher aperture. Wish you were more to the right as the bird seems to moved ahead. Thanks for sharing. Look forward to more from Ranthambore.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

This image doesn't look sharp. Is this a crop?

I agree that the whites have become overexposed a bit. One needs to be a bit careful while exposing.

Moving animals or birds require a higher shutter speed and it also depends whether it is moving towards you or horizontally and the subject distance etc etc

I have used high ISOs like ISO 3200, ISO 5000 etc when required. However, when you print large the noise is evident and I won't suggest someone to use such high ISOs. Ofcourse, various people have different quality perceptions.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Ashok Sorout]

not cropped

[Bhargava Srivari]

I didn't mean to say that it is absolutely fine to use ISO 3200 or more. It is totally correct that when you print images at high ISO, noise shows up. However, when light is extremely bad, and you want to have a shutter speed of at least 1/40sec or so to get a sharp shot, you cannot help but switch to high ISO. As long as possible, it is best suggested to use low ISO. Lower the ISO, better will be the details.